MS came out with their new search engine – Bing
Google with their new communication and collaboration platform – Wave
Both are exciting products but I think you’ll see a fundamental difference in the philosophy of these companies by better understanding the nature of the products.
Bing – The Decision Engine?
From the video of Bing, it seems that they are aggregating services, and trying to build something that is the be all and end all of search. Its power comes from the orderly aggregation and presentation of information sources from across the net. Reminds me of windows and MS’s suite of applications. Very silo-ed, a lot of effort and maintenance in building out the product. Decision Engine – I don’t know.
The MS approach usually offers less in the way of consumer choice – but you’re promised a nice suite that works together. But as we all know, MS more often than not screws this up. This is normally Apple’s forte. We’ll see how it goes with Bing though. One piece of advice for MS – change the logo for Bing please. ‘Uninspiring’ would be an understatement.
Google’s Wave
Google on the other hand is opening up the platform and wants the rest of the Internet to join in on the ‘platform’ to help finish the product.A very Google approach for solving this really big problem. Google’s core premise is that it is a search engine company, it’s way of looking at things is that the Internet has a lot of good things out there, we will help you bring order to all that chaos to make money. Same with Wave, which is targeted squarely at the developer community. The Internet is home many cool applications, we’ll open-source the core, let others add it to our platform, index it all, and make a buck. You win, we win. You can check out the video on TC or read a short preview on RWW, if you dont have the patience.
Google’s approach casts a wider net, a simple solution with more generic applications. The user would typically get a wider choice but it can end up getting a little complicated. It all comes down to how good the defaults and quick-start features are in the app. Google’s done a decent job of it so far so I’m thinking they’ll pull off Wave pretty well.
What’s DNA got to do with it.
Interesting to note how these two companies ‘think’ from today’s announcements. I think a company’s first product defines what their DNA is.
It’s basically the difference between how a Operating System company solves a problem and a Search Engine Company solves a problem.
MS’s solution seems to be – Try to cover all the bases so the end user can easily get stuff done within the confines of its paradigm. An OS company.
Google’s is – Reuse whats out there to create value for the user. A classic Internet paradigm, perfect for a Search Engine company.
Both companies have these recurring themes across their products and services. IMO, MS is going to lose the game on the Internet unless they adopt Google’s thinking of ‘open’, reuse and contribute.
No matter how much resources you have inside your company, the rest of the world is going to have more of it. Might as well figure out a way to use it for your advantage rather than let them be your competitors.
Brilliant post and great insights. ‘open’, reuse and contribute are going to be the guiding mantras for all tech co.s that truly want to add value. Look fwd to more such posts!